Sliding closure



N. D. PARSONS SLIDING CLOSURE Feb. 7, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 31, 1958 ETMm I L E1: -3

R it lwm .wm W\ OW\ NN v mm N QNHN N- D- PARSONS SLIDING CLOSURE Feb. 7, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 31, 1958 N. o. PARSONS sums CLOSURE Feb. 7, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 31, 1958 I"llIIIIIIIII"llNlllIINIlIIIl"IlllllllllllIIIHIIINIllIlllllllllllllllllllff IIIIIIIIIIII'A SLIDING CLOSURE Nelson D. Parsons, Cowlesville, N.Y., assignor to Fleet of America, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y.

Filed Dec. 31, 1958, Ser. No. 784,156

4 Claims. (Cl. 160-40) This invention relates to improvements in glazed slid ing closures; and more particularly to sliding closures of the type adapted for use as doors and windows in various types of structures.

The invention is exemplified herein as being embodied in a door construction having a fixed sash and a movable sash, but it will be understood of course that any number of movable and fixed sashes may be utilized in combination; and it will also be apparent that the principles of the invention are equally applicable to both door and window constructions.

Difliculties have heretofore been encountered in providing such closures so that the entry of air through and accumulations of moisture in such structures are prevented, due to the difliculty of completely weather-stripping such movable sash structures by previous methods.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a combination fixed and sliding sash closure, characterized by improved resistance to the inlet of air and accumulation of moisture within the structure.

Another object is to provide a sliding closure as explained hereinabove which is provided with improved resilient sealing means for preventing ingress of air and moisture into the building structure with which the sliding closure is associated.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a sliding closure as aforesaid which is composed of a relatively small number of standardized parts which can be used to serve similar functions in difierent portions of the closure structure. This materially reduces the cost of fabricating the closure and facilitates the shipping and the installation of the closure.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following specification and the accom panying drawings, which are for the purpose of illustration only, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view showing a fixed sash and movable sash and screen installation in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2'is a vertical sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line IIIIII of Fig. 2; e

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, partly sectional view, taken on tural opening is closed by means of a door arrangement comprising a fixed sash ltl an d a movable sash 12. Al-

though the invention is illustrated as being embodied in a doorway closed by one fixed sash and one movable sash, it is not intended that the invention be limited to that particular combination, since itis obvous that alternatively the use of a fixed sash may be dispenseclwith and any number of movable sashes may-be usedin combination. Also, it is of course possible to use one or more movable sashes in conjunction with a plurality of fixed sashes.

The structural opening closure of the invention is defined at the top thereof by means of a header 16 which attaches by suitable fasteners 17 to a lintel portion 18 of the building; the base of the opening being defined by a sub-sill 19. The closure of the invention includes a threshold plate or sill designated generally at 20. At opposite sides of the opening the closure structure is defined by jambs 22-23; the sill 20 and the jambs 22, 23 being fastened to the building walls as by screws 21. The header 16, the sill 20, and the jambs 2223 together define a substantially rectangular frame into which is fitted the stationary and sliding closures and mounting and weather-sealing devices which are the subject of the present invention.

As shown in Fig. 2, the header 16 comprises a metallic extrusion structural member including a C-sectioned main body portion 24 having stepped top plate portions 26, 26 apertured at intervals therealong to accommodate the screws 17 which mount the header relative to the lintel of the building opening. The inside flange portion 28 of the header mounts as by means of bolts 29 a track rail 30 supporting rollers 32 carried by suspension brackets 3434 which in turn support the header portion 36 of the metal frame which carries the glazing member 38 of the sliding sash element 12. As shown in Fig. 3, the jamb or upright frame members supporting the glazing element 38 comprise generally box-sectioned metallic extrusions as indicated at 40, 42; and as shown in Fig. 2, the bottom sill or frame piece 44 for the glazing element 38 comprises a generally H-sectioned metallic extrusion member. Screws as indicated at 45 (Fig. 2) interconnect the framing members at the corners thereof.

As shown herein the glazing element is of parallel spaced pane or Thermo-pane type, and is retained between its frame members by means of flanges extending integrally therefrom as indicated at 46, 47 and 48. At the outside face of the framing structure the members are provided with detachable flange plates 50, 51 and 52; the framing members and the detachable flange plates being tongue-and-groove shaped for snap-slip-fitting erally U-sectioned portion 60 having an integrally formed downwardly extending inner flange 6i and a detachable outer flange 62 accommodating therebetween the upper edgeof the glazing member 65 of the stationary sash 10. As shown in Fig. 3, one of the upright portions of the frame structure enclosing the glazing 65 comprises a generally H-sectioned extrusion porno-n66 formed integrally with the jamb 22 referred to hereinabove; While the opposite upright or side framing element comprises an independent generally vH-sectioned framing member 67 having'an integral flange 68 and a detachable flange 69. Similarly, the framing portion 66 includes an integral flange71 and a detachable flange 72. At their bottom ends the upright framing members connect to opposite ends of a bottomframing element which is generally of box-sectioned form as illustrated at 74 (Fig. 2)

and includes an integral flange 75 and a detachable flange 76. The side plates of the member 74 bottom in parallel recesses formed in the threshold plate :29 hereinabove referred to. Thus, it will be appreciated that the glazing movable sash members.

element 65 is held stationary between the framing elements 60, 66, 67 and 74; and that weatherproof packing (not shown) will preferably be disposed between the framing elements and the glazing element at the perimeter thereof, as is well known in the art. i r

The outer vertical wall of the header 16 is laterally recessed and grooved as indicated at 82 (Fig. 2) to rollingly support therein spaced rollers 85-35 carrying brackets 86-% from which suspend the top framing member 88 of a sliding screen 90. At its opposite ends the member 88 connects with upright framing members 92, 92 which in turn connect at their bottom ends to a bottom frame member M (Fig. 2). Thus, it will be appreciated that whereas the stationary panel 10 is fixed to the main header and jamb and sill structure, the glazed panel 12 and the screen panel 96 are readily slidable on their roller supports in the main header construction. Thus, as shown in Fig. 1, the panel 12 may be employed as a movable door providing an entranceway for the building, while normally closing the building opening against the outside weather by means of the transparent window-like device. Also, the screen panel 91 may either be stored behind the stationary glazed panel illor moved into entranceway closing position in lieu of the sliding glass panel 12, whenever it is preferred to open the interior of the building to the outside atmosphere while precluding entrance of insects and the like.

Weather stripping devices fabricated of mohair, felted fibres, or the like are mounted as indicated at 96 on the screen frame members 88, 92, 94, to insect-seal the screen member Ml while still permitting it to freely slide as explained hereinabove. Similarly, the movable sash member 12 is weather-sealed relative to adjacent stationary structure by means of a flange member 7 (Fig. 2) at the top of the sash which carries at its lower edge a mohair seal 98 to ride in a vertically open channel 99 attached to the stationary header 16. Along its bottom inner edge the frame piece 44 is provided with an upbent flange 100 which carries a mohair strip 102 riding in a vertical channel portion 163 of a sill or threshold cap strip 104 which mounts on an upstanding free edge support flange 1% of the threshold plate 20. Similarly, as shown in Fig. 3, the vertical jamb members 22, 23 and the stationary sash frame member 67 mount mohair weather strips 119 in such positions as to engage the framing portions of the sliding sash 12 when in its various positions. Fig. shows a detail of the weather strip construction wherein the mohair fibres are cemented to extend from a fabric sleeve 112 which slip-its over a metallic strip 114, whichin turn slide-fits into grooved flange portions 116 supporting the weather strip device.

As shown in Figs, 2, 4, the outer face of the bottom frame piece 44 is bifurcated as indicated at 120 and mounts a series of support pins 122 which engage vertically slotted portions 123 of a suspension plate 124. The

bottom portion of the. plate grips a brush type weatherseal as indicated at 125 which projects into weather-sealing relation with the top surface of the threshold plate 29. Thus, it will'be appreciated that the movable sash 38 is double weather sealed by devices allowing for vertical dimension inaccuracies in the stationary framing and The header 16 is formed across the front face thereof with an integral downwardly extending flange 13% (Fig. 2) to substantially weather-close the screen roller trackway; and at its rear face it is covered by a detachable cover-strip 132 enclosing the heads of the track support bolts 29, to provide an improved interior finish.

The threshold plate 20 is supported in vertically spaced relation (Fig. 2)'on a sub-plate 136 which has integrally formed front and center and rear ridges 138, 139, 140

- extending into firm support against'the sub-sill portion 19 of the building structure. The plate 243 is supported in vertically spaced relation above the sub-plate 136 by means of integrally formed downwardly extending ridge g portions 142, 144; and the front ridge portion 144 is supplemented by a detachable weather flange plate 146. A mastic sealing material is preferably packed into the space under the outside edge of the sub-plate 136, as illustrated at 155 (Figs. 2, 6). The ridges 142, 144, and the flange plate 146 are transversely notched at intervals therealong as indicated at 150 (Figs. 2, 6) to permit exit of condensate fluids tending to accumulate interiorly of the structure and settling by gravity in the space between the threshold plate 20 and the sub-plate 126. A mohair brush-type weather strip as indicated at 152 (Fig. 2) is disposed between the plates 29, 136 to block passage of air draughts otherwise tending to move through the apertures 15th.

I claim:

1. A closure comprising in combination, a frame having a top rail, a fixed sash mounted in the frame, a movable screen and a movable sash suspended from the top rail of said frame, said frame including a bottom sill plate extending across the width of the frame, said sill plate having an integral vertically turned upstanding flange portion extending along one longitudinal edge thereof and terminating in a free top edge, a threshold strip extending along the length of said flange and having a channel removably slip fitted downwardly upon and over the said upstanding flange, said strip having another channel paralleling the first channel and forming a hood portion facing downwardly, a Weather strip bracket fixed to and along the bottom edge portion of said removable sash and carrying an upwardly projecting flange extending within the channel of said hood portion, and resilient weather strip means disposed within the interior of said hood portion channel and forming a weather sealing sliding connection between said sill structure and said movable sash.

2. A closure comprising in combination a frame, a fixed sash and a movable sash mounted therein, said frame including a bottom sill structure, said sill structure including a generally horizontally disposed sill plate extending across the width of the frame, said sill plate having a substantially vertical upstanding free edge flange along one longitudinal edge thereof, a threshold strip of inverted substantially W cross sectional form extending across the width of the frame and providing a pair of side-by-side channels, one of said channels being slip fitted upon said upstanding flange and the other channel providing a hood facing downwardly toward and spaced from said sill plate, a weather strip bracket of substantially J cross sectional form secured on its longer side to the bottom edge of said movable sash andthe shorter side providing an upturned flange portion lying below and extending upwardly into the said hood forming other channel along the full length of the latter .and of the movable sash, and a resilient weather strip means within the said other channel and interposed between inner sury tially W cross sectional form extending across the width of the frame and providing apair of side-by-side channels, one of said channels beingof greaterdepth than the other channel and benig slip fitted downwardly over and frictionally receiving and maintained in position on said flange, the other of said channels being directed downwardly toward and in spaced relation with; the sill plate and lying in a plane between said upstanding flange and a side face of the movablev sash, a weather strip bracket of substantially J shaped cross sectional form having the longer side of the fixed toand extending along the bottom edge of the said side face of the sash, the shorter portion of the J forming an upturned flange lying between the sill plate and said other channel and projecting upwardly into the said other channel, and resilient weather strip means disposed within the said other channel between surfaces of the channel and said upturned flange.

4. A closure comprising in combination, a frame including atop rail, a fixed sash mounted within the frame, a movable sash suspended from said top rail adjacent to one face of the fixed sash, a movable screen suspended from said top rail adjacent to the other face of the fixed sash, said frame further including a bottom sill plate extending across the width thereof and having an inner side longitudinal edge and an outer side longitudinal edge, an upstanding flange carried by the sill plate and bordering said inner side longitudinal edge, means forming a sliding connection between the bottom of the sliding screen and the sill plate adjacent to the outer longitudinal edge of the latter, a weather strip bracket bordering and extending the length of the bottom portion of the movable sash between the latter and said upstanding flange and projecting down toward and terminating short of the top of the sill plate in an inwardly and upwardly projecting flange, a threshhold strip overlying and. covering both of said flanges and having a downwardly opening first channel snugly receiving said sill plate carried flange and having a downwardly opening second channel having theweather strip bracket flange projecting unpwardly thereinto, and weather strip means within said second channel between the surfaces of the latter and said weather strip carrying flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,273,877 Kammerer Feb. 24, 1942 2,596,913 Nystrom May 13, 1952 2,638,189 Watkins May 12, 1953 2,699,204 Davis Jan. 11, 1955 2,869,187 Liebman Jan. 20, 1959 2,870,882 Tulman Jan. 27, 1959 2,911,689 Kelly Nov. 10, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,067,359

France Ian. 27, 1954 

